Challenger, Gray & Christmas calculated the employer loss by dividing the average hourly wage, $15.52, by six to determine the average amount earned every 10 minutes, or $2.59.

It then multiplied the $2.59 by 52,870,000, or the estimated number of employed Super Bowl viewers.

The firm said that figure represents 62.2 percent of the estimated 85 million U.S. viewers who watch the Super Bowl each year. That was the rough percentage of the U.S. population employed in December, it added.